On Wednesday, Oct. 25, the Archie Williams Falcons Water Polo took on the Terra Linda Trojans in the Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) playoffs at the Marin Academy pool. The Falcons were coming off a great regular season with a league record of 8-1 and ranked second in MCAL.
The game started off neck and neck, with both teams showing strong offense as well as defense. Junior Jacob Carrera scored the first goal of the game for the Falcons but the Trojans didn’t bat an eye as they quickly scored two goals to take the lead. The Falcons missed a penalty shot on goal, but that didn’t stop junior Hayden Long from scoring two more goals to end the quarter 3-2.
To start the second quarter, the Falcons began to extend their lead over the Trojans with Jacob scoring twice. The Trojans were fumbling passes and shots on goal, giving the Falcons more opportunities to capitalize. However, the Trojans successfully scored a penalty shot past University of California Santa Barbara commit and senior goalkeeper Haakon Lacy. The quarter ended with a score of 7-4 after junior Vincent Krilanovich and sophomore Nolan Anderson both scored for the Falcons.
“We played very good team defense and we made some very nice passes to make great assists,” said coach Matt Swanson.
The third quarter started off with strong defense from the Falcons against the multiple Trojans’ shots on goal. However, the Trojans’ defense stayed strong in the third quarter and the Falcons weren’t able to score. The Falcons repeatedly turned possession over, giving the Trojans more leeway. The Trojans began to close the gap to end the quarter at 7-6, scoring two goals as the quarter ran out.
In the fourth quarter, the Falcons began to soar over the Trojans after Hayden and Vincent both scored to further their lead. As time was winding down, the Trojans scored twice to be down by one making the score 9-8. With less than 30 seconds left on the clock, the Falcons held onto possession and let time do the rest of the work to win the game 9-8 over the Trojans.
“I think in this game we played really well together. I think we need to improve on our counter defense a little bit. It’s not perfect and there’s room for improvement, but I think we’ll get there,” Haakon said.
The Falcons play their next game on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 12:20 p.m. against the Redwood Giants in the MCAL finals at the Marin Academy pool. They hope to win the MCAL tournament and continue strong in the postseason.
“I’m looking forward to [MCAL finals], we beat [Redwood] earlier this season, but it was a very hard game and I’m expecting us to execute on the same level, put the game away and we’ll win,” Haakon said.
